Reading: A Clockwork Orange

If you want to know about the plot, google it. I will just explain why I would recommend reading or experiencing this book.

What I value in a reading experience: writing style, content and the desire to actually finish the book.

Title: A Clockwork Orange

Author: Anthony Burgess

Style: Lots of weird slang

There is quite a lot of violence and disturbing imagery, but it is mostly masked by the use of Nadsat. At first, the language seemed to interfere with the storytelling, but you kind of get used to it after a while. After the first few chapters, I gave up trying to translate every single word and phrase. Much of the meaning can be deciphered based on context, and it is quite easy to remember what the words mean. If you're really worried about it, there are various glossaries available online!

Content: Humour, dark themes and a lesson

I was completely immersed in this book, primarily due to the way the story was told. Maybe I'm just dark and disturbed, but I quite enjoyed the first third of the book which focused on "ultraviolence". I empathized with the narrator (Alex) throughout the book, despite the fact that he seemed quite evil and heartless. Anyway, the book is about his journey... from evil to good... or being modified from a sweet and pure human capable of free will into a robotic windup toy? (a clockwork orange...)

Desire to finish: Bingo.
If a book is boring, I can't finish it. My goal was to finish the book before seeing the movie, but I didn't quite make it. I was also slow to finish, mostly because I was really trying to drag it out. Being a novella, there wasn't much to it, so the fact that I was enjoying it meant that it didn't last very long. I did end up finishing the book, and was disappointed to realize that the movie was quite a bit different. P.S. I hate that movie.

Other comments: This isn't the type of book I usually read. I prefer frivolous (gasp!) chick lit where I can really turn my mind off. Or maybe some kind of best-selling non-fiction. Needless to say, this book really sparked something in me. Something I can't explain. 

Overall recommendation: Read it.